Friday, 18 February 2011

Even though we stayed south of Kuala Lumpur, we hardly venture to Kajang unless it's absolutely necessary like going to the post office to collect registered letters. There were post offices nearer to home but I've no idea why we have to go to the one in Kajang town. Anyway, we just woke up one morning and lazing around... trying to plan what we need to do for the day. One of it well, was to collect a letter from Kajang and since we're going to be there, may as well plan my list of supplies to get from Bagus bakery supply shop for my fruit cakes. The next thing, Capt'n Hook ask me if there's any place to have breakfast around Kajang. With the convenience of having the Macbook next to the bed, I went on to Jon's blog to check what's on offer around Kajang town and I hit jackpot with Restoran Mexim Dim Sum.

We got up and took a slow drive there. Ahhhh finally found the restaurant which located along the same row as Restoran Malaysia (Nyuk Lan Kajang Satay). Parking is a huge problem here even though it was on a weekday that we need to go round another huge round thru the town just in time for someone to vacate a slot in front of Restoran Malaysia. We were there on another weekend and it's equally as bad.

Anyway, the servers will bring the trays of steamed and deep fried dim sums. Just take your pick. Items like loh mai gai (steamed glutinous rice), baos, chu cheung fun (steamed rice rolls) and century egg porridge have to be ordered separately. Then order your drinks which of course Chinese tea would be most suitable to "wash away" the oiliness. Other than various types of Chinese tea, there are a couple of leung char (herbal tea) on offer.

We have the usual items like steamed deep fried fish balls which is really bouncy with fish paste, not filled with flour. Xiu Mai totally filled with fresh minced pork! Other items either have minced pork or bouncy large shrimps which I believed bicarbonate soda is used but I'm not complaining when the shrimp is fresh!

As Capt'n Hook dug into his loh mai gai, after one bite... he declared that it was the most authentic loh mai gai ever! It reminded us of loh mai gai of our childhood days that is filled with a piece of chicken with bone, a slice of char siu, a large slice of lap cheung (Chinese sausage) and some pork bits. The glutinous rice texture is done perfectly... soft but yet retained the chewiness.

My char siu chu cheung fun is smooth and slippery but not the best though. Portion a little small too.

Then we have the deep fried items like fu chuk rolls that are crispy on the outside filled with fish paste. Yeung Ngai Gua (brinjal stuffed with fish paste)... need I say more??? Just look at the amount of fish paste! Nice stuff!

Woo Koo (Yam puffs) have fluffy skins, not oily at all. Can taste the yam and so much of moist char siu fillings inside!

I was wondering how their baos would fare so I packed one dai bao (big bao), a couple of char siu baos, sang yuk baos and dau sar baos (red bean paste). The baos generally have very fluffy skin that does not stick to your teeth when one bite on them and not too thick with generous fillings.

Again the dai bao here is very old school. They really do have fillings like quartered hard boiled egg, a piece of chicken, mince meat with turnip slices and large piece of lap cheung so unlike other places where one could only find one clump of fatty minced meat!

Char siu bao is top grade here with fair amount of fatty bits. Loved the sang yuk baos and the dau sar baos (sorry no pics).

There's a Mexim branch in Seri Kembangan and Taman Connaught as stated on the plastic bag but I know the Taman Connaught one is closed and replaced with another restaurant. Prices are extremely reasonable with most of the items seen here priced at RM2.80 per plate. There is an item priced at RM4, hmmm which could be the dai bao???

We totally loved our discovery of one of the better dim sum place around with rather authentic fillings and flavours... totally old school that reminded us of how dim sum were like during our childhood days! Thanks to Jon for the wonderful intro ;-)

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Had enough of the festive dishes? Time to have loads of greens then...

Baby Kai Lan is one of my favourite vegetables. I usually blanch them but another way is to stir fry them. Most times I uses garlic and oyster sauce but this time I remembered how my mother does it. She uses ginger and Chinese cooking wine or DOM and sometimes brandy too.

My version is very simple, I just cut old ginger into thin strips and fry them in oil till brown and crispy before adding baby kai lan. Keep stirring and sprinkle a little water to help with the cooking process if necessary. Add some salt to taste. When it's cooked, I poured in a couple tablespoons of Stone's Ginger Wine. Give it a stir before dishing up. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Monday, 14 February 2011

Before Chinese New Year ends, I better post this Chinese New Year set menu that we have partake for our reunion dinner. We have been calling Ming Room and Noble Banquet but they are either fully booked or we have to take the first seating at 5.30pm! After more calls, we managed to get a table at Shark Fin House which is a lesser known restaurant within the Oriental Group of Restaurants at 7.30pm. Perhaps people are shying away cos of the name of the restaurant? Anyway, their menu is quite similar to Ming Room and slightly cheaper :p

Capt'n Hook placed the order of the cheapest set menu available at RM738++ for a table of 10 pax. The menu we have that evening was:

新 年 齐 捞 生 (三文鱼捞生)

Salmon Yee Sang

春 启 万 家 门 (竹笙凤展翅) （每人每）

Double-Boiled Stuffed Shark’s Fin in Chicken Wing & Bamboo Pith

凤 凰 来 报 喜 (杏花鸡拼鲜虾捞Rojak)

‘Hang Fah’ Chicken & Fresh Prawn Rojak

顺 利 庆 有 余 (香芋竹枝顺壳煲)

Braised ‘Soon Hock’ with Yam & Beancurd Skin in Clay Pot

横 财 就 手 (蚝士发菜猪手蔬)

Braised Pork Trotter with Dried Oyster & ‘Fatt Choy’

新 春 乐 满 堂 (生炒腊味糯米饭)

Fried Glutinous Rice with Waxed Meat

甜 蜜 过 新 年 (冰镇雪梨白玉丹)

Chilled Snow Pear with Sea-Coconut

双 星 齐 新 年 (千层马来糕拼脆皮窝饼)

Thousand Layered Cake & Chinese Pancake

After the dinner, we did a count and realised that out of the 8 courses, one is the yee sang and 2 were desserts. So we only have a soup plus 3 dishes and a rice dish. Hmmmm... Capt'n Hook mentioned it's not really as worth it as Standard Chartered Bank's Extravagant 8 promo at Gu Yue Tien. I concur to that but we have a couple of old folks with us who can't climb stairs hence this was the alternative.

Let's just see how did Shark Fin House fare then. The Salmon Yee Sang came with everything on the serving plate including the sauce which was placed on one side. We all noted that the amount of salmon slices is rather generous. We were given extra long chopsticks to toss our yee sang. This yee sang is tasty enough but a little dry here and there as the sauce was not throughly poured all over. Saved time for them but not so great for diners.

‘Hang Fah’ Chicken & Fresh Prawn Rojak consisted of 3 items on the plate. There's a plate of rojak, some stir-fried cubed chicken with bell peppers and onions and of course the hang fah chicken.

The only weird combo here is the rojak lol cos the taste sort of like overwhelm the other 2 dishes but the rojak does tasted good though. There were thinly strips of turnips, cucumber, yau char kwai but I didn't manage to grab any prawns.

The hang fah chicken is basically having removed the chicken meat from the skin, fish paste is then spread onto the skin before covered in almond slivers. Lots of work and this version has crispy skin on top and crispy almonds at the bottom.

This claypot contains big chunks of marbled goby! Accompanying the fish are generous portion of yam, gluten puffs (mien karn), Chinese mushrooms and beancurd sheets. Thumbs up generally from everyone as the fish is fresh and the sauce was well seasoned.

The next dish that can't run away from Chinese New Year menu! Usually it's warng choi chau sau (pork trotter) or hoe see fatt choi (oyster with black moss) but this claypot has both combinations inside!!! Chunks of melt-in-the-mouth pork trotters indicated this dish has been braised for hours! Married with large dried oysters and black moss with a tasty gravy, this dish is screaming for rice.

Even though there were very little dishes BUT the portion of each dish is super huge. We have to packed most of the dishes back. Looking left and right of our table, seems like our neighbouring tables are doing the same too! And so we came to our last savoury dish,

Fried Glutinous Rice with Waxed Meat. Actually the rice here looked like steamed glutinous rice and the texture is soft whilst retaining just a wee bit of chewiness which went well with the older folks. Very very tasty but my only gripe is there's too little waxed meat and mushroom or rather they were chopped so tiny that we can't chew on them even though the taste is there.

We ended our dinner with 3 desserts. First was a chilled snow pear with sea coconut which tasted pretty normal but good as a refreshing end after a heavy meal.

Then came BoiBoi's favourite Chinese Pancake and my favourite of Thousand Layer Cake but the waitress said it's Malai Goe (Malay kuih). Both varieties are good especially the steamed cake. Not sure how we managed to wiped the plate clean!

Since the elders have rather good feedback on the food, I reckoned this place can be added to our list for future family gatherings. Service was surprisingly good and prompt even though it's jammed packed. The only thing is there's always Imbi Palace, across the road, in competition!

Shark Fin House is located at where the first Tai Thong Restaurant used to be and it's opposite Imbi Palace. Parking is fairly easy as there were a couple of open air carparks opposite and besides Imbi Palace. Else valet parking is available at RM5.

Since today is St Valentine's Day, wishing everyone a very happy Valentine's Day! Love from all of us at Babe in the City - KL ;-)

Friday, 11 February 2011

We were in Malacca back in November for a short trip to attend a wedding. I got hold of Lanatir to give me some directions on where and what to eat but it's really too bad that we did not have much time to go round looking for the places he had recommended. There was this satay place, Kedai Satay Xiang Ji (Jonker Satay), that we wanted to try and we decided to check the place out after our walkabout around Jonker Street and the city. We drove pass and saw the shutters were down!!! I sms Lanatir and he couldn't believed that it was closed!!! Sighhhh... so we drove off to the hotel as it was getting a little late.

The next day, after the wedding reception in the afternoon, Capt'n Hook had wanted to drop by at Jonker Street again before we head home. We have to drive pass Xiang Ji and I saw half the shutters were down. Capt'n Hook stopped the car and I got down to enquire. Woooohooooo it seems they were taking some orders for take-away and could accommodate my orders for 30 sticks of pork satay. Yes only pork satay was available at that time and we can count how lucky we were. Apparently, the entire family has taken the week off for a holiday to China, hence the shop was shut. They were partly opened that Sunday as they have taken a large take-away order. Since there were excess sticks so that's how I got my 30 sticks! I'm not sure who these elderly couples were but they mentioned their boss and family have gone for holiday, were they staff or were they the owners?

With the charcoal fire roaring away assisted by the Uncle's hand powered fan, my order was quickly grilled up. We could not resist the smell of the satay even though we were stuffed from the luncheon so we each have a few sticks. Whoaaaaa so nice and fragrant even without the peanut dip! There isn't much fatty parts but yet each bite is tender and are well spiced with amongst others lemongrass and tumeric.

We heated the remainder sticks up when we were back home in the microwave oven and ate them with the peanut sauce. I really couldn't care much of the sauce even though it's nice (since I really loved peanuts in anything and everything :p) cos the satay alone is already very delicious!

Now I understand why I've seen pictures of people queuing up to have a go at this satay place cos the pork satay is really awesome (I can't help it but to use the word here as Capt'n Hook really detest this word *chuckle*) here! If I'm not wrong, each stick is 60 sens.

Thursday, 10 February 2011

Ahhh that was a long break indeed... hope everyone enjoyed the lunar new year festivities. It's time to move my gears before they turn rusty. If you have been following Precious Pea's blog, Restoran Sim Hap Ke in Taman Connaught, Cheras, will not be an alien to you. Her blogpost on The Star is plastered on the door, can't miss it at all!

We have been here numerous times but I can't seems to find the pictures of one of the occasion where we have the "One Bucket Chicken" which is essentially steamed free range chicken served in a wooden bucket. The chicken retained it natural sweetness and the addition of Chinese cooking wine did enhanced the flavour a lot. We practically drank the broth/gravy! We also tasted the signature Salt Baked Lala. Loved the size of the lala (clams) served here. Even though the lalas were baked but they were done just right without over cooking. We tried kum hiong another time which is equally good.

This time, the 3 of us have a simple meal. Ordering here is really simple but then again it could be mind boggling as both sides of the restaurant walls are plastered with large pictures of the dishes served here. You need to take some time especially on your first visit to soak up the yummilicious pictures. Deciding on a dish could take a while with that many choices of dishes!

From the wall, BoiBoi dictated this Steamed Egg with Tofu. We loved the smooth as silk steamed egg that has pieces of silken tofu and topped with minced meat, dried shrimps and fresh chopped spring onions. Not only kids would love this dish but am sure adults too would go ga-ga over.

Next we have a Mui Choy Khau Yuk (Stewed Pork Belly with Preserved Chinese cabbage). The pork belly literally has very very little meat, hence the fats melt in the mouth! For those who loved fatty pork belly, this is it! BoiBoi loved dipping the mantaus (steamed dumplings) in the sauce. I really liked the sauce too which screamed for more rice but I wish they could put in more mui choy cos it's my fave :p

Capt'n Hook requested for petai and got recommended this Stir-Fried Sambal Petai with Minced Meat. This is very hearty and the petai portion is rather generous... I guess only petai lovers would appreciate how delish this could be.

The dishes here are generally good and service is prompt if you're there early before 7pm on weekends. Since it's only one shoplot size, there are limited tables here so either you walk in early or make a reservation. Prices are reasonable too. The 3 dishes above costed RM42. I've gotten the Chinese New Year set menu but it's all in Chinese and they were too busy to translate the dishes to me. Prices seems reasonable and do give it a try ya.

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

In the running towards Chinese New Year, this is an absolutely simple solution not to be "slaughtered", that is to cook something quick and simple at home. We normally fry rice with lap cheung (Chinese sausage) but this time round I did it with Kwai Far Yuk.Kwai Far Yuk is a type of lap mei (waxed meat) that is hmmm almost oblong in shape and it's flat about 1/2 cm thick.

I usually boil the Kwai Far Yuk for a few minutes to get rid of the wax and fatty bits before slicing them up. For this fried rice, I diced them. Prepared some diced long beans, chopped garlic and scrambled eggs. I've used day old brown rice. First, I fried the Kwai Far Yuk in a wee bit of oil before I dump in the garlic. Let the garlic turn a little brown before putting in the long beans. Add in some salt but not too much. Keep stirring till the long beans are cooked. Add in the rice, making sure the grains are separated and not clumpy. Stir and mix well. Add in a few dashes of soy sauce and ground pepper powder. Keep stirring and then add the egg last. Mix well and serve hot with fresh chilli strips. Easy peasy.